Darren Clarke shot a one-under-par 71 to open his PGA Tour Champions season at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Hawaii, but the 2011 Open Champion is seven off the lead.
The Dungannon man carded an early bogey but birdied two of the next seven to make the turn at one-under, then parred each of the closing nine for a 71 which leaves him tied for 32nd after round one.
Canadian Stephen Ames leads the way after an eight-under 64 in which he birdied five of the opening nine and went bogey-free, leaving him one clear of Freddie Jacobsen and Fred Couples.
66-year-old Couples beat his age by one. Back in 2022, the then 63-year-old former Masters champion and world number one became the first player to beat his age in the final round to win a PGA Tour Champions event when he shot a 12-under-par 60 to win the SAS Championship.
He admitted that he’d been close to pulling out of the event through illness, so is not overly optimistic about his chances of maintaining his place near the top of the leaderboard.
“Well, my body hurts,” he said after his round. “I mean, the flu is kind of gone, but I’m really, really sore. I mean, it makes my back seem like nothing. Right in here, I don’t even know what it is.
“The doctor thought it was from coughing for three or four days. As Chaney came to the range without a cart, I said, “Where’s my cart?” I couldn’t walk one hole, it hurt so bad. I’ll get some treatment, I’ll work on it, I’ll get a lot of rest and hopefully I’ll come out and it feels the same. As long as it feels like this, I just get tired.
“I’ve done nothing. I’ve laid in bed trying to make sure I didn’t go anywhere too fast so I’d get sick again. I wanted to come to Hawaii kind of fresh. Seems like it’s worked out.”
Leave a comment